I think my earliest memory of King Arthur was seeing “The Sword and the Stone” when I was in elementary school. The tale of Arthur and Merlin was a light-hearted introduction into the Athurian legend. As I got older, books followed–The Once and Future King, The Crystal Cave, The Idylls of the King. The movie Camelot was a biggie as well.

Suffice it to say, I adore King Arthur.

A few years ago I traveled to southern England and visited some spots that were key locations in the tales of King Arthur.

This is the Tor of Glastonbury. The Tor was probably once an island, hence its identification with the mysterious Island of Avalon, a place between the worlds, where tradition says that Arthur came to be healed of his wounds and to await his recall in a time of great need. This is the most likely reason for the legend of his grave being found in the abbey ruins below the hill at Glastonbury Abby.

This is reputed to be his grave:

Any how, I’m going back to England next year and one of the places we’re visiting is Tintagel, birthplace of Arthur.

We’re doing trains and backpacks and buses and pubs for 10 days in Devon and Cornwall.

UB–I’m sure you’ll get back to England. I downloaded Wolf Hall and it’s up next on the Kindle.
DF–Did you like St. Ives? What else was worth seeing? Email me!
Julie–Exactly! I’m looking forward to the book.
Whit–Nice try.
Rass–I love that you love that I love. KumBaYas for everyone!
PG–That’s what I adore about England. Just so much packed into that little space.

Devon is beautiful, I spent many childhood holidays there and usually the weather is quite good compared to the rest of England. You need to make sure you have a Devonshire Cream Tea while you’re there – scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream. I don’t even know if you have clotted cream there but it is, quite frankly, the epitome of artery-hardening, delicious awesomeness.